Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Green beer in Prague? You bet!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Someone just asked me, "Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Prague?"  You bet your shamrock we do!  Perhaps it's our shared Celtic history or the mere fact that we share a love of pubs and, no surprise here, beer!  (statistics show that the Irish consume the second largest amount of beer per capita after the Czechs). 

Before we head out to down a few green beers, let's not forget that St. Patrick's Day is not just a day for festivities, but a day to honor St. Patrick, the most commonly recognized patron saint of Ireland.  After nearly thirty years of teaching and spreading God's Word, St. Patrick died on March 17th, 461 AD, and was buried at Downpatrick, so tradition says.

We could have been drinking blue beer...
Originally, the color associated with St. Patrick was blue. However, over the years it changed to green...green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St. Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century.  St. Patrick is said to have used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish, thus the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs has become a staple feature of the day.

Thirsty yet? 
A few places to enjoy a green pilsner or a Guiness:

Molly Malone's http://www.mollymalones.cz/ U obecního dvora 794/4
Dubliner Irish Bar, Tyn 1, Old Town, Prague 1
Rocky O’Reilly’s http://www.rockyoreillys.cz/ Štěpanská 32
O’Che’s http://www.oches.com/ Liliova 14
J.J. Murphy’s http://www.jjmurphys.cz/ Tržiště 4
Flannagan’s (The Shamrock) http://www.irishpubprague.com/ Vaclavske nam. 52
Caffrey’s http://www.caffreys.cz/ Staromestke nam. 10

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